For many, families come together at Christmas time, Thanksgiving, and some other random holidays. For others, families only get together at weddings and funerals. Concerning the Weston family of August: Osage County, even these rare but momentous events would best be skipped. If spending time with your own family this Christmas did not produce the requisite amount of drama you were looking for, check in with the Westons and catch every drip of sordid melodrama it will rain down upon your head. Violet Weston (Meryl Streep) calls it truth telling. Everyone else calls it being an asshole. This woman leads a 19-minute dinner table scene halfway through the film that filmgoers will talk about for years to come. It is the most uncomfortable, can’t look away from, verbal battles ever filmed. Hannibal Lecter could sit at the table munching on a human being and it would probably lighten the mood. One family member kills him/herself at the beginning of the film and that act brings the clan back together again. There are the three daughters played by Julia Roberts, Juliette Lewis, and Julianne Nicholson. All of the significant others dutifully tag along for support but they act more as emotional baggage carriers than actual human empathy providers. Violet’s sister, Matti Fae (Margo Martindale), her brother-in-law Charlie (Chris Cooper), and their somewhat ‘off’ son, Little Charles (Benedict Cumberbatch), also show up and do their best to throw in their ample contribution to the drama-heavy stew. Every single member of this large family has secrets. They have past disappointments, current calamities, and very likely futures of near certain doom. All of these things are just ammunition for pill-popping addict Violet. In her best passive aggressive manner, she will let each of them know her opinion on the state of their marriages, their sagging looks, and their bleak prospects. Violet cannot fathom why so many people get upset with her and storm out of the room either; she is just truth telling. August: Osage County’s cast list is the most A-list heavy of the year. It is easy to see why; each character is pure dynamite for an actor. When news circulated that the 2007 play by Tracy Letts was to become a film, every actor worth their salt in Hollywood probably circled the casting sessions like vultures. Even relatively minor roles are staffed by the likes of Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, and the red hot Cumberbatch. Hollywood’s most influential stars lined up the most plum roles though and they took it seriously. Meryl Streep wins my vote for Best Actress of the year while Julia Roberts easily earns Best Supporting Actress. These two ladies spar back and forth for what must total a good hour throughout the film, neither of them backing down. They even resort to one of the most comedic / saddest physical fights of the year. There is a good chance one of Julia Roberts’s lines will become as much of a frequent recitation as the best Anchorman and Dumb and Dumber quotes that still get repeated at parties, “Eat the fish, bitch!” There is a bit too much melodrama weighing down the script as one catastrophe relentlessly piles on top of another that makes August: Osage County fall just short of one of the best films of the year. Its superior ensemble cast is a joy to sit back and watch as they verbally tear each other apart in many funny and even more serious and depressing scenes. However, August: Osage County technically ends on a happy note because you will leave the theater giving thanks that you are not related to the Weston family.